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connect to my external USB drive with bluetooth adapter?
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connect to my external USB drive with bluetooth adapter? spydersweb34 05-02-2008
Posted by spydersweb34 on May 2, 2008, 7:29 am
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 Hi

This may be the dumbest question in the world, but I am sure if it's
possible many people would do it. I am a photographer and like many
of my photo addict brethren, I have perhaps a terabyte of storage in
the form of powered xternal usb drives. These are clunky, heavy things
and I hate hooking up USB cables to them every time I backup. Also,
over time, my USB ports on my PC have become somewhat worn from just
connecting and disconnecting so many times. When I am transferring
files, if I just move the laptop (it's on my lap, right?) it goofs the
USB connection and I have to start over again. VERY frustrating. I
NEED wireless.

So I am thinking "Bluetooth USB" - it's like a USB cable, but with no
wires. So, in this way I am thinking to buy two of those cheapo USB
Bluetooth adapters. One goes in the USB port of my laptop. The other
goes into the usb of the external drive. Will this work or I am
really misguided?

Hoping for a positive answer.

Thoma

Posted by G.G.Willikers on May 2, 2008, 9:49 am
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 spydersweb34 wrote:
> Hi
>
> This may be the dumbest question in the world, but I am sure if it's
> possible many people would do it. I am a photographer and like many
> of my photo addict brethren, I have perhaps a terabyte of storage in
> the form of powered xternal usb drives. These are clunky, heavy things
> and I hate hooking up USB cables to them every time I backup. Also,
> over time, my USB ports on my PC have become somewhat worn from just
> connecting and disconnecting so many times. When I am transferring
> files, if I just move the laptop (it's on my lap, right?) it goofs the
> USB connection and I have to start over again. VERY frustrating. I
> NEED wireless.
>
> So I am thinking "Bluetooth USB" - it's like a USB cable, but with no
> wires. So, in this way I am thinking to buy two of those cheapo USB
> Bluetooth adapters. One goes in the USB port of my laptop. The other
> goes into the usb of the external drive. Will this work or I am
> really misguided?
>
> Hoping for a positive answer.
>
> Thoma

Why not set up a static computer to act as a network storage server.
Keep the USB drives permanently connected to that. Than transfer your
files / backup over network, wireless (real)wireless or wired.

the static computer can be any old box as long as it excepts a network
connection.

or this

http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-SA800.html

Posted by BillW50 on May 2, 2008, 10:14 am
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In
spydersweb34 typed on Fri, 2 May 2008 04:29:51 -0700 (PDT):
> Hi
>
> This may be the dumbest question in the world, but I am sure if it's
> possible many people would do it. I am a photographer and like many
> of my photo addict brethren, I have perhaps a terabyte of storage in
> the form of powered xternal usb drives. These are clunky, heavy things
> and I hate hooking up USB cables to them every time I backup. Also,
> over time, my USB ports on my PC have become somewhat worn from just
> connecting and disconnecting so many times. When I am transferring
> files, if I just move the laptop (it's on my lap, right?) it goofs the
> USB connection and I have to start over again. VERY frustrating. I
> NEED wireless.
>
> So I am thinking "Bluetooth USB" - it's like a USB cable, but with no
> wires. So, in this way I am thinking to buy two of those cheapo USB
> Bluetooth adapters. One goes in the USB port of my laptop. The other
> goes into the usb of the external drive. Will this work or I am
> really misguided?
>
> Hoping for a positive answer.
>
> Thoma

Well yes and no! Meaning I don't think it is that easy. How this is
normally done is networking another computer through WiFi. Although I
have seen WiFi routers that you can hook up external hard drives too.
And I am not sure, but that might be your best option.

AirPort Extreme has AirPort Disk: USB hard drive sharing
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/10/airport-extreme-has-airport-disk-usb-hard-drive-sharing/

Seagate unveils "D.A.V.E." drive with Bluetooth and WiFi
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/30/seagate-unveils-d-a-v-e-drive-with-bluetooth-and-wifi/

You can do a search for "wireless hard drive" on Google and find lots of
different things for your needs.

--
Bill


Posted by Dave Martindale on May 2, 2008, 8:07 pm
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>So I am thinking "Bluetooth USB" - it's like a USB cable, but with no
>wires. So, in this way I am thinking to buy two of those cheapo USB
>Bluetooth adapters. One goes in the USB port of my laptop. The other
>goes into the usb of the external drive. Will this work or I am
>really misguided?

Bluetooth is approximately a factor of 500 slower than USB2. Forget
it.

Wireless G or N is still slower than the USB2 that you're used to, but
not by nearly as much. You might be happy with a setup that has a NAS
storage device with a SMB server connected to a wireless access point.
That will let you open the external drive in Explorer and copy stuff to
it.

This is certainly practical to set up at home, where you may well have
other uses for a file server and a wireless network set up all the time.
It's less practical on the road, because it's more pieces to carry
around, and more expensive to lose them.

        Dave

Posted by spydersweb34 on May 3, 2008, 7:55 am
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I had no idea Bluetooth was so slow!! In the meantime, I also called
the 800 on-line sales departments of several big PC vendors (Bestbuy,
Compusa, etc). The real surprise there was the non-level of knowledge
about Bluetooth. The information presented above was nowhere in
evidence. But back to the issue, basically what I am hearing is that
to have wireless drive access I must physically connect the drives to
a file server, then setup a wireless network, connecting the two PC's
via wireless G. I suppose this also implies that I have wireless G on
my laptop, since it is the source of the files to be backed up It's
nice to know this, but I am in Africa and old PC's aren't exactly
lying around here, at least in my house. Relative to this, I talked to
my sister yesterday. Her Windows operating system had gone kaput and
they were going out that day to get a new one. I asked her what she
was going to do with the old PC. "I will throw it in the trash. It's
no good." I told her that here, they don't throw them away. it would
be repaired - probably for about $15 or $20. Back to the issue, I
suppose I can live with USB cables for a while longer. What I am sure
of is this - because I think I need this wireless solution, there is a
demand. I think this is especially true of photographers because we
daily generate significant amounts of new files that need backup.
Someone will come up with a viable and economic solution for this.
Thanks to all of you for the great feedback! I have learned a lot.
Thoma

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